Oregon Chocolate Festival March 1-3, 2013

Salisha, pre-eminent Mixologist at LARKS Restaurant at the Ashland Springs Hotel did her handy work and infused Organic Nation vodka with vanilla bean and concocted a tasty Martini also including Rogue's Chocolate Stout and Umpqua's Vanilla Ice Cream.  Besides being tasty, it was a fun time.  Diane got to get behind the bar at LARKS and tell a little bit about the story behind Cascade Peak Spirits and Organic Nation. You can check out the love story in an article featured in Artisan Spirits magazine "Love at first Sip".

ORGANIC NATION gin & Leaf Magazine

Leaf Magazine  penned a wonderful summer cocktail story and featured ORGANIC NATION gin.  Once again, our gin, is wowing consumers who are interested in Sustainable and organic products.  O-N gin is getting the coverage and adoration it deserves.

Southern ORE-ganic features sustainable spirits producers

Distillery conjures pure Oregon spirits - registerguard.com  [Southern ORE-ganic - Joel Gorthy with Eugene Register Guard come to Southern Oregon to review three sustainable producers of spirits, wine and beer!]

Underground Speakeasy in Southern Oregon

What fun!   ORGANIC NATION cocktails, great food, great venue, and great people!   Matthew Domingo of Farm to Fork put together the first Southern Oregon "Pop Up" Speakeasy.  Matthew featured two delicious ORGANIC NATION gin and vodka cocktails, yummy hors d'oeuvres, and a dinner made with locally grown vegetables and meats.  Noble Coffee and Roxy Ann Winery were also featured.  A great time was delivered locally!
Come out and continue to support local food and drink artisans.

Fresh Squeezed Summer Cocktail

O-N the Rube

2 oz ORGANIC NATION gin
2 oz fresh squeezed juice from an organic ruby red grapefruit
3 oz Langer or similar Ruby Red grapefruit juice, not too sweet, no high fructose corn syrup!
1 oz triple sec
1/4 oz fresh squeezed juice from an organic orange
Shake with ice.  Serve in a chilled Martini glass. Sip and enjoy responsibly!

A Taste of Ashland

It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm!  And the Tasters were out!   Once again, ORGANIC NATION Spirits wowed the crowd.  Besides serving tastes of both our luscious spirits, we had a yummy BEE'S KNEES, that classic 1920's cocktail mix, to offer. We were at Backroads Studio, where Harriet Greene and Marty Goldman live and create incredible works of art.   To round things out, Mystic Treats was serving up delicious pizza, such as their Southern Oregon, which features hazelnuts, figs and gorgonzola cheese!

I think that the local bars might be inundated with requests so here is the recipe for you to give them:

ORGANIC NATION~ It's the BEE'S KNEES:
2 oz. of ORGANIC NATION gin
3/4 oz - 1 oz. fresh squeezed organic lemon juice
1 oz. honey syrup
Shake with ice in a shaker and serve UP in a gorgeous Martini glass

Honey syrup:   mix 1:1 local honey to water, heat up to meld.
**This is a cocktail that you have to taste as you go, you might need more honey, if the lemons are tarter than usual or less honey if the honey is stronger than some.   Taste away and enjoy on a nice warm day!
             

Hop Frog at Standing Stone Brewing Co.

HOP FROG

2 oz. ORGANIC NATION gin 

Muddle:
1/2 Myers Lemon
6 fresh Ammarello Hops

Add:  Ice & shake well. Strain into a High Ball glass filled with ice
Top off with Soda H20.
**When hops are added to the brewing process for beer, the bitter taste of the hops are accented. This drink brings out the other floral flavors of the fresh hops. This is a refreshing drink that is best enjoyed at the end of long day.

Created by Jay Jones,  Server/Mixologist extraordinaire at The Standing Stone Brewing Co., in Ashland, Cascade Peak Spirits Distilleries' home town!

Celery Cider Cocktail

Celery Cider

1.5 oz. Organic Nation Vodka
2 oz. apple cider
Dash simple syrup
Pinch of celery salt
3 dashes celery bitters
Juice of one lime
Combine all ingredients over ice, shake and strain into a rocks glass over ice.  Garnish with a celery salt rim.

Delicious Organic Nation vodka cocktail developed by those talented people at Saveur Magazine.
Saveur Magazine supports Craft Cocktails

Weekend Cocktail: Blame the Bastard

Blame the Bastard

2 oz Organic Nation Gin

½ oz Simple Syrup

1 egg white

2 oz Fresh Squeezed Grapefruit Juice

½ oz of Lemon Juice

Shake with ice for 1 full minute till milky and stiff foam develops

Serve over ice in a bucket glass

Finish with one shake of Angostura bitters

Garnish with one mint leaf

Enjoy the 'Bastard' at your next cocktail party or evening on the patio and do your part, select sustainable and local ingredients!

Cheers!

Melodie

Mixologist Spotlight: Brandon Wise

Recently transplanted from Chicago, mixologist Brandon Wise focuses on seasonality with his craft cocktails at Irving Street Kitchen. Wise’s cocktail program is rooted in the classics with a focus on artisan spirits, a core value fostered while managing Chicago cocktail destination In Fine Spirits. Before relocating to Portland, Brandon fused the beverage program of Perennial with the contemporary cuisine of Chef Ryan Poli with technique driven libations and market fresh ingredients. Brandon can be found behind the bar at Irving Street Kitchen in the Pearl District’s newest cocktail hot spot.

Doctor’s Orders

1 1/2 oz Organic Nation Gin

1/2 oz Aperol

1/4 oz Rothman & Winter Apricot liqueur

3/4 oz lemon juice

2 Teaspoons 1:1 simple syrup

Dash peychaud’s bitters

Egg white

Build ingredients dry in shaker tin starting with egg, dry shake with whisk from hawthorne strainer. Add ice, shake and double strain into bucket glass over large hand carved ice cube. Garnish with smacked mint leaf and 3 drops of peychaud’s bitters

Mixologist Spotlight: Ryan Mortimore

Basilico Fresco

3 oz Organic Nation Vodka infused with Basil and Strawberries

1/2 oz Fresh Lime

1/2 oz Fresh Lemon

1/2 oz Ginger Simple Syrup

Shaken with ice

Served over ice in a collins glass

Topped with Sparkling Wine

Garnish with a Basil leaf and lime wedge

Ryan got his start at Cucina Biazzi in Ashland where he learned his tricks of the trade, lending to a talent that quickly emerged to an inevitable love for mixology.

While studying in Florence during the Fall season of 08, Ryan's passion for cocktails merged with his love for Italy and its culinary delights. His dedication to the european influence infuses immaculately with Joolz Mediterrainean fare and his attention to detail. Ryan has been an instrumental part of Joolz and its extensive cocktail offerings since's its opening May 2009.

Ryan is a Bend native and continues to contribute to its unique culture.

Cheers!

Visit Ryan at Joolz in Downtown Bend, Oregon and enjoy this delectibly refreshing cocktail.

Melodie

Mixologist Spotlight: Kenneth Bryant

Organic Bitter Past

Organic Nation Gin

Fresh Muddled Grapefruit

Campari

Dolin Sweet Vermouth

Fresh Lemon Juice

Muddled, Shaken and Served up.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Ken brings his passion for classic cocktails and interest in fresh new flavors to the bar top at Bend's Astro Lounge. Cultivating years of experience from the likes of Loft 11 in San Francisco, Velvet Jones in Santa Barbara and The Other Room in Venice Beach, yeilding some of the best cocktails and pushing the bleeding edge in the industry.

Astro Lounge is one of Bends top and original cocktail bars leading its competitors with more 'Best Bar' awards in Bend Oregon in the last 10 years.

Cheers!

Visit Ken at the Astro and make sure you you treat your self to one of these tasty summer cocktails.

Melodie

Weekend Cocktail: Pink Gin

A long time classic, Pink Gin has also been known as a Gin & Bitters. For lack of a more complicated cocktail, thats just what it is, Gin and Bitters. Originally created by the Royal Navy to make Angostura bitters, which they used for medicinal purposes for the sailors, more palatable.

After searching I found the cocktail also referred to as "Gin Pahit" in many 19th century sailing stories.

This is the virtually the same drink, only the name has been lost in time. According to stories 'pahit'is Malay for "bitters." No matter the name, the cocktail has more or less remained the same.

Enjoyed best with a botanical rich Gin, hence my selection of this cocktail for our Organic Gin, shaken well with ice.

Cheers!

Melodie

Pink Gin

2 oz Organic Nation Gin

3-4 Dashes of Angostura Bitters

Shake hard with ice.

Serve in a cocktail glass.

Garnish with a Lemon Twist if you like.

Taking Chocolate to new extremes

Extreme Chocolates is a quality based confection and patisserie company that just keeps pushing the envelope!

Flavors run amok, ideas whirl uncontrolled and the result is a fabulous chaos. They explore how to take a conventional product and take them over the edge! Owner and Chef/Chocolatier, Carrie Wong, has been a fan and advocate of our products since we met at the Oregon Chocolate Festival at the Ashland Springs Hotel, Mar. 2009. At the time, she was using an imported French vodka. Once we introduced ourselves, chatted about local, organic, it was an easy sale and Carrie and Organic Nation started doing business. It is great to collaborate with another Oregon business to create a superior product that supports the Oregon economy. And yes we LOVE her chocolates!

According to Carrie Wong, Founder/CEO: "We grabbed the best Organic Vodka Produced in Oregon – Organic Nation- and began producing the finest slow brewed vanilla extract with amazing results – and that’s not just our opinion, Gourmet Magazine agrees! Now, we have released the creative juices once again and are brewing our own pure lemon extract in a base of Organic Nation premium Gin! Hang on – this one will rock your world! If we can create these items with a little great booze, vanilla beans and a lemon – imagine what we can do with chocolate! Oh My!"

Some of their inspirations: Grains of Paradise in Dark Sumpaz Single Origin Chocolate Truffles, Smoked Maracaibo Chocolate with Hawaiian Sea Salt Truffles,

Padron Cigar Infused Dark Chocolate Truffles

And so much more….keep an eye on them at www.extremechocolates.com

Extreme Chocolate Girl

2 oz Organic Nation Vodka

½ oz Extreme Chocolates' Dark Chocolate Pinot Sauce

½ oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur

½ tsp Extreme Chocolates' Vanilla Extract

2 oz Extreme Chocolates' Dark Chocolate, melted in a squeeze bottle

Take a chilled Cocktail glass and squeeze a swirl design inside the glass with the melted chocolate.

In a shaker, add ice cubes, then Vodka, Chocolate Sauce, Chocolate Liqueur & Vanilla

Shake vigorously for 30 seconds and strain into chilled glass – enjoy!

Thanks Carrie!

Cheers,

Melodie

Celebrate World Cocktail Day with a whole lot of shakin'

In celebration of World Cocktail Day, I asked my friend and awesome mixologist, Columbine Quillen for one of her favorite Gin cocktails to mark the day.

Gin Slide

1 oz Organic Nation Gin

1 oz Courvoisier

1/2 oz Triple Sec

2 oz Lime Sour (see below)

1/2 oz Fresh Orange Juice

2 dashes Angostura Orange Bitters

Place ingredients in a shaker and shake extra, extra hard. For those of you who like a frothier cocktail, add a little egg white.

Lime Sour

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup warm tap water

1/2 cup organic granulated sugar

2 tbs fresh orange juice

Stir all the ingredients together until sugar has dissolved.

Cheers and Happy World Cocktail Day!

Melodie

To read more about work cocktail day, visit our Facebook page.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo- Tequila Free

While some will frown upon the idea of not including tequila in every cocktail on this international celebration of Mexican independence, some of us just don't 'do' the agave based spirit. This year, try a cocktail that celebrates the traditional south of the border flavors sans the tequila.

To celebrate the victorious Battle of Puebla, toast this cocktail.

1862

1 ½ oz Organic Nation Gin

½ oz Lime Juice

1 oz Coconut Cream (sweetened)

- If you are using coconut milk, add 1 oz of heavy cream and ½ oz of Agave syrup.

Put ingredients in a pint, filled with ice, shake, pour into a Hurricane or Collins glass.

Garnish with lime twist.

If you are feeling like getting your hands dirty and want to wow your guests try this alternate version of the 1862

Whole coconut- chilled

Drill 2 holes in the top – with a power drill!

Add 2 oz of Organic Nation Gin – you will need a funnel, a flask funnel works well.

1 oz heavy cream

½ oz of Agave Syrup

½ oz of lime juice

Plug the holes with your fingers and shake rigorously

Stick a straw in, sip and enjoy!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Melodie

Honor our Mother's Earthy Girl

Earth Day is always a great reason to raise a glass and toast to what Mother Nature has given us. So, make your toast strong and supportive then invite your friends to pedal over to your place for a nurturing round.

Earthy Girl

1 1/2 oz Organic Nation Organic Vodka

1/2 oz Benedictine

1/2 oz Earth's Love Liqueur

1/2 oz Lime Juice

5 fresh mint leaves, slapped and torn

Add all ingredients in a pint, shake with ice.

Serve in a Cocktail glass

Cucumber slice for garnish

Earth's Love Liqueur

1 cucumber diced into small pieces

1/2 oz minced fresh ginger

1/4 cup of organic honey

4 oz of Organic Nation vodka

Let mixture stand, ideally for 24 hours

Cheers!

Melodie

Weekend Cocktail: The Abbey

The Abbey

2 oz Organic Nation Gin

1/2 oz Lillet Blanc

2 oz Fresh Pressed Orange Juice

Shake with ice, Serve up in a cocktail glass

Dash of Bitters (Angostura, if you can find some!)

The Abbey is an age old Classic cocktail, so with the use of super fresh ingredients, a botanical forward Gin, it becomes a great way to rejuvinate the origin of flavors. I would highly suggest this cocktail to a colleague who claims 'I don't like Gin', I do believe most will be in for a pleasant surprise!

Cheers!

Above and Beyond

The Elegant Swanky atmosphere of the Gilt, featuring their talented Chefs and Mixologists will be hosting:

The Gilt Club and Organic Nation Spirits Cocktail Pairing Dinner

306 NW Broadway
Portland Oregon

503.222.4458 for Reservations

April 15, 2010

(tax day)

5 Course Cocktail Dinner

$75 per person

1st Course -Choice of

Gin Cured Salmon with dill, mustard dressing,

English cucumbers, and toasted caraway

Paired with a (1040ez Form)

.............3/4oz Organic Nation Gin

.............1/2oz aquavit

.............1 tsp lemon

.............1/2oz vya dry vermouth

or

Goose breast prosciutto wrapped asparagus,

with salt cured egg yolk, and a anise dressing

Paired with a (W-2)

.............3/4oz Organic Nation Gin

.............1/2oz vya sweet vermouth

.............1/2tsp herbsaint

or

Foie gras terrine flavored with juniper raisins and pistachio brittle - $10 Supplement

Paired with a (Income tax)

.............1 1/2oz Organic Nation Gin

.............3/4oz vya dry vermouth

.............3/4oz vya sweet vermouth

.............1/4oz Oj

.............Dash of Bitters

2nd Course -Choice of

Ruby grapefruit, shaved fennel, pea shoots,

basil with champagne-herb vinaigrette

Paired with a (Negroni)

.............1/2oz Organic Nation Gin

.............1/2oz vya sweet vermouth

.............1/2oz Cynar

or

Fava bean “cappuccino” with an

olive crumble rim, and a bacon crisp

Paired with a (7th heaven)

.............3/4oz Organic Nation Gin

.............1/2 grapefruit

.............Tsp maraschino

.............Mint sprig

3rd Course -Choice of

Juniper rubbed elk - pickled chanterelles,

cipolinni onions, and mizuna

Paired with a (Rosmarys baby)

.............1oz Organic Nation Gin

.............1/2 grapefruit

.............Sprig rosemary

or

Scallop ceviche with habanero, avocado,

citrus marinade and chives

Paired with a (Ceviche Cocktail)

.............3/4oz Organic Nation Vodka

.............Tsp Carpano Antica Vermouth

.............Tsp Torani Amer

4th Course

Organic Nation Vodka martini Sorbet with

black olive caviar

5th Course -Choice of

Lamb loin with salsa verde, preserved lemons,

potato puree, and lamb jus

Paired with a (Communist)

.............1/2oz Organic Nation Gin

.............1/2oz OJ

.............1/4oz Cherry Herring

.............1 tsp lemon

or

Black olive roasted monkfish, sea beans, mustard

greens, creamed leeks, and esplette pepper

Paired with a (Thelonius)

.............3/4oz Organic Nation Vodka

.............Tsp vya dry

.............Tsp benadictine

Reservations Required.

See you there!

Melodie

Get your green on this week

St Pattys Day usually calls for all types of green dye, goofy tall hats and face paint. While I wouldn't stop anyone from indulging in such amusement, I will lend a drink recipe that will get you more green, in more than one way.

First off, celebrate with Green ingredients! Use Chartreuse, which is already green and doesn't require dye, as well as local Organic and Sustainable ingredients to keep your foot print light (so you can save the heavy step for dancing) and thirdly drink tasty cocktails, instead of cheap beer drenched with food coloring.

Here is a recipe for you to take to your St Pattys day celebration:

The Irishmans Hat

1/2 oz Organic Nation Gin

1/2 oz Chartreuse

1/2 oz Brandy Liqueur

1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake the above ingredients and serve in one of two ways:

Strain into a cocktail glass and serve.

Strain into a Large Flute and top with Champagne, this will surely impress the lassies at the party.

Garnish with a lime twist or lime wheel with a 4 leaf clover!

Cheers!

Melodie